Mass Effect Multiplayer Has Been on BioWare's Wishlist for a While

It's not an idea that EA suddenly forced upon the developer.

Even though rumors it would happen had been circulating for quite some time, last month's announcement that Mass Effect 3 includes multiplayer came as a shock to many -- and an unpleasant one at that for diehard single-player fans. According to Mass Effect executive producer Casey Hudson, multiplayer hasn't been added because of some Electronic Arts mandate; the idea has always been around and the right opportunity finally presented itself.

Speaking about the genesis of multiplayer, Hudson told CVG, "[T]o us it was always a fun, intriguing idea to partake in the Mass Effect universe with friends, to look around, kind of see it from inside with others rather than just taking part in this solo experience."

Hudson pointed out that games are increasingly becoming more social- and online-centric, but BioWare has "been trying to find a way ever since Mass Effect 1 to integrate some kind of multiplayer."

There was an outpouring of negativity from single-player purists when the multiplayer announcement was made. Some of the most common complaints are that its inclusion will compromise the quality of the single-player campaign and those who want to only play single-player are having multiplayer forced upon them. While multiplayer can affect the outcome of the single-player story, it's a purely optional feature. Those who wish to go about fighting the Reapers and saving the galaxy on their own are more than welcome to -- they won't be locked out of the most ideal ending possible just because they don't want to team up with other players online.

Hudson said before it debuted as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2007, there was some consideration given to making the entirety of Mass Effect a cooperative experience. When it became clear it would compromise the ability to create the sort of single-player BioWare is known for, the idea was dropped.

"In those early days we were trying to figure out what kind of a game it was going to be, and were thinking of ways that maybe the whole story experience might revolve around a co-op [structure]," Hudson explained. "That, instead of there being just one Commander Shepard, he's in fact kind of lots of different heroes that can jump in, meet each other and interact. And by embarking upon that route we realized there was just a lot of things we simply couldn't do, or had to compromise when ensuring the solo experience was as great as we wanted it to be, so we dropped that idea and proceeded to perfect single-player, to make it really solid."

The idea returned when it came time to make Mass Effect 2 and, again, didn't pan out.

"Then, with ME2 we revisited the idea, deliberating whether you could perhaps take control of one of the other characters for a while, but -- again -- there were a lot of factors that would have compromised the single-player story."

Now with Mass Effect 3 being centered around a massive intergalactic war, the opportunity to implement multiplayer actually makes sense within the context of the story.

"So Shepard is still the hero, making the big decisions, deciding what's going to happen with the universe and building alliances, but now there's armies all over the place, fighting to just hang onto different locations," Hudson said. "That provided us with a different idea; now in multiplayer you can play as that crew of special forces, journeying around and helping Shepard with the war effort."

Hudson went on to note he would personally like to see a Mass Effect MMO, a subject he had previously broached by stating, "A lot of people say that they want to see [a Mass Effect] MMO, I think that kind of makes sense for this universe." It seems appropriate to point out that he also talked about how "multiplayer is something we want to do more of in the future as a company" at the time, months before multiplayer was confirmed in Mass Effect 3.

Without completely shooting down the possibility -- he said "anything's possible" and that BioWare would see what fans want -- Hudson referred to the addition of typical player-versus-player multiplayer modes (deathmatch, CTF, etc.) through DLC as "the most trivial, tacked on thing that we could do" because they would fail to continue building the world of Mass Effect.

It seems as if BioWare is trying its best to fit multiplayer into the game in such a way that it doesn't feel tacked-on. There has been a great deal of criticism leveled at formerly single-player series adding multiplayer when there was not a great deal of clamoring for it. Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford discussed this very topic earlier in the year year, naming Dead Space 2 as a prime example.

"Let's forget about what the actual promise of a game is and whether it's suited to a narrative or competitive experience," Pitchford said. "Take that off the table for a minute and just think about the concept-free feature list: campaign, co-op, how many players? How many guns? How long is the campaign?

"When you boil it down to that, you take the ability to make good decisions out of the picture. And the reason they do it is because they notice that the biggest blockbusters offer a little bit for every kind of consumer. You have people that want co-op and competitive, and players who want to immerse themselves in deep fiction. But the concept has to speak to that automatically; it can't be forced. That's the problem."

Comments (7)

Yes...

unfortunately, it's not on a lot of fans' wishlists...but hell, who cares about us fans of the series, right? This is the 'super bowl' of the ME universe in your own words, Bioware. Who gives a rat's ass about the regular season, right?

WE DO, YOU IDIOTS. WE DO. THE FANS DO. US. THE PEOPLE WHO'VE MADE YOUR GAMES SO DAMN WELL KNOWN.

I wanted...

...the multiplayer in ME3 to be co-op for the entire story (like in the Halo series) and to have whoever the host is make all the decisions. Why not just have the co-op partner play as whoever the host puts in their party (IE: Garus or Tali).

I don't mind multiplayer. But this still seems tacked-on.

And I'm fairly sure Bioware wasn't even thinking about multiplayer when they developed Mass Effect 1. It was build specifically as a RPG, despite the gunplay action. Multiplayer would've worked better if it was a stand-alone Mass Effect title. I'm blaming EA. they want a multiplayer component on all their fucking titles.

still kind of lame

yeah the series beagan as a shooter/RPG hybrid but I want to actually piolt the normandy or perhaps a stealth game set in the universe (Mass Effect: Ghost). I feel like these ideas would lend themseleves to better world building and more creative multiplayer options myself. At least your character in Galaxy at War appears in the single player (I'd hope your friends appear as enemies that would be fun).